Cassandra Beaver

@cassandrabeaver.bsky.social

554 Followers 471 Following

Mostly-modern quilter, quilting instructor, blogger, and pattern designer. Blue dot in rural Ohio. https://thenotsodramaticlife.com

This foundation paper pieced quilt features twelve of my favorite zoo animals and includes full-color FPP templates and instructions.
Clippings from foundation paper piecing my Mocha Mousse Mini Quilt
Fabric pull for the Pantone Quilt Challenge featuring Ruby + Bee Field Mouse and strips of a fabric in a rainbow of color
My favorite fun beverage is fruit-flavored lemonade, and my block features a foundation paper pieced icy raspberry lemonade with a whimsical straw and a lemon on the side.
24" x 24" Description: This mini quilt uses half-rectangle-triangles (HRT) in colors ranging from pale green to deep violet to evoke the colors of the sea. The color moves forward and back in an uneven gradient to emulate the movement of water in a geometric form. Solid fields of color are broken with 1/8" wide pieced slivers in one-half of each HRT unit.
Description: How do thread color and weight combine with quilting density to alter the overall impression of simple patchwork?  This quilt consists of four nine-patch quilt blocks featuring bright colors. The intense color continues with the 50, 40, 28, and 12-weight quilting threads. While the thread color repeats throughout the quilt, the appearance alters depending on the fabric color behind it. Decorative machine stitching creates additional density within the plaid effect of the quilting. 
36" x 36" Description: I enjoy using quilting stitches to create an illusion of transparency, but what happens to that stitching when the entire quilt is translucent? In this quilt, I used three layers of silk organza to develop a design reliant on transparency. The first two layers are simple stripes that alternate directions to create a plaid effect. The third layer of white organza creates a pastel version of the design when the quilt is reversed.
Description: How does an up-and-coming color trend meld with a traditional shape? For my 2024 100-Day Quilt, I used the Pantone Color of the Year, Peach Fuzz, in a design featuring Apple Core Blocks. I improvisationally pieced rectangles of fabric for individual blocks before using an Accuquilt to cut the final apple core shape. The piecing within each block enhances the unexpected diagonal gradient that moves across the quilt.
37" x 41" Description: Photographs of desert plant life at a Nevada botanical garden combined with the red rock formations of Southern Utah inspired this needle-turn appliqué quilt. Using AutoCAD, I translated these images into a template line drawing. As I turned the edges of each fabric section under during the stitching process, the gradient background was revealed, creating a stained glass-like effect. The gridded quilting is reminiscent of observing the outdoor world through a window screen.
Description: Photographs of various plant life at the local botanical garden inspired this hand needle turn appliqué quilt. Using AutoCAD, I translated these images into a template line drawing. Over 100 days, each section of the line drawing was cut from a separate piece of fabric, and the background ombré fabric was revealed during the appliqué process, creating a stained glass-like effect. The gridded quilting is reminiscent of observing the outdoor world through a window screen.
Description: Stripes were the theme of my first 100-day project for 2022. Between January 1st and April 10th, I explored the use of stripes in my quilting practice. Piecing techniques included inserting ⅛ " wide strips, interleaving, Y-seams, and traditional piecing methods. As the quilt grew from the inside outward, I focused on using the contrast (or lack of contrast) in the striped components to draw the viewer's eye around the composition.  This quilt was edge-to-edge quilted with the design U-Turn by Bethanne Nemesh.
Description: How do scraps from one project take on a new life? Emergence, the predecessor of this quilt, was created from start to finish in the 100 days leading up to QuiltCon Together. A pile of fabric strips was left next to my sewing machine when the virtual event kicked off. As I watched lectures, I used those scraps with additional solids, prints, and hand-dyed fabrics from my stash to create the quilt top for Next Verse, Different Than the First.
Description: Tipsy explores Viva Magenta, the Pantone 2023 color of the year, and the use of line in a quilted composition. Line-work in most art forms exists primarily as dark lines applied to a light background. This piece flips that expectation using mostly white lines within the pieced composition. Based on an improvisational log cabin, the narrow pieced lines hold great visual weight by appearing to tip the central composition off-center. The tilting effect is enhanced with the overlay of a quilted grid running parallel to the edges of the quilt. This highly regular ½" grid is created with a 28-weight thread. The heavier thread weight enhances the juxtaposition of regular, regimented lines with the spontaneous effect of the semi-improvisational piecing.
Description: Where do we connect? The top for this piece started as dark blue fabric basted over the same amount of medium blue fabric with arc-shaped lines that intersect at a single point. Each line is created by cutting a slit in the dark blue fabric and sewing down either edge with needle turn appliqué. Through this process, the quilt's personality is revealed line by line. Once quilted, the piece continues to evolve by removing a circular section of the quilt. The revolution of the inner circle breaks previous connections and forms new intersections with its current positioning. Throughout the entire construction process, none of the original fabric is removed; it is only altered, just as we change through our connections and experiences, but we continue to carry past versions of ourselves forward as we change throughout our lives.
16" x 16" Description: Inspired by the traditional quilting motifs of squares and triangles, this mini turns them on end through scale and alternative grid work. Traditional and foundation paper piecing techniques are used to create a design with piecing as narrow as ⅛ inch.
Description: As the pandemic wore through 2020, we all needed something to look forward to, and virtual quilt shows were a bright spot in an otherwise dreary Winter. I created Emergence as a 100-day countdown to QuiltCon Together. Each day, a small amount of sewing grew consistently to emerge as a finished quilt by the time we gathered virtually. Bright, warm colors evoke joy, and the mix of hand and machine quilting creates a cozy texture.
Description: Inspired by traditional diamond one-patch blocks, this design embraces the diamond shape while drawing it into a curved form to evoke feelings of a growing wave. The pairing of a soothing blue and turquoise color palette with an energetic diamond motif develops an ebb and flow, echoing the underlying energy of a calm ocean.
Description: Inspired by a photograph of downtown buildings, Urban Cabins is a contemporary exploration of a traditional block.  Central log cabin motifs grow improvisationally to embrace the hustle and bustle of a downtown community.  Prints, solids, cottons, and linens create diverse visual and physical textures.
Description: Each year, I construct a quilt using the Pantone color of the year. For the 2019 color of Living Coral I decided to create a quilt using a value scale surrounding the key color. I drew on my experience as a scenic painter for the theatre to emphasize value in a manner that creates the illusion of dimension in the finished design. Five colors of quilting thread were used to match each fabric color to maintain focus on the pieced design.
Description: Inspired by the string art made in childhood, this whole cloth mini quilt used ten colors of 12-weight thread to create the rainbow color effect in the design. The negative space includes a grid of matchstick quilting in a matching white 50-weight thread. The negative space shifts into an unexpected focal point by omitting the fourth corner of the design.
Description: Each year, I construct a quilt using the Pantone color of the year. For the 2019 color of Living Coral I decided to create a quilt using a value scale surrounding the key color. I drew on my experience as a scenic painter for the theatre to emphasize value in a manner that creates the illusion of dimension in the finished design. Five colors of quilting thread were used to match each fabric color to maintain focus on the pieced design.
Description: Two simple blocks are cut into strips and reassembled to form this small quilt.  The first block was a simple circle in warm colors. The second block was made of wedges in cool colors.  Combined, the two blocks evoke the feeling of a sunset over the sea.
Description: Resonance uses colorful quilting thread to create a sense of outward movement and reverberation from central points.  Threads that coordinate with each fabric create a blending sensation as the quilting merges the appliquéd circles with each other and the background.  This quilt was my first 100-day project, from New Year's Day 2018 to my birthday, which fell on the 100th day of the year.
Description: All solid fabrics are cut and pieced into the stripes, forming the basis for this semi-improvisational design.  Stripes of various widths, as small as 1/8 inch, were stitched together to create a piece of fabric before being cut and assembled into the blocks that make up the quilt top.  The circular blocks were devised as stand-alone units and placed on a design wall to develop the overall composition by adding more striped units.
Description: Using improvisational construction, Zenith combines the 2018 Pantone color of the year, Ultra Violet, with the Kona color of the year, Tiger Lily. With these colors as a starting point, the overall palette was expanded to incorporate the hues found in a vibrant sunset. The inclusion of strong diagonal lines, triangular shapes, and a combination of hand and machine quilting further enhances the energy of the quilt.
Complementary Convergence is based on two separate diamond-shaped motifs containing small pieced sections of complementary colors, one bright pink and green, the second turquoise and orange.  Each colorful section of fabric is matchstick quilted with a matching 12wt thread to extend the design across the negative space of the quilt.  The magic of the design happens when the quilting lines from the separate motifs converge on either side to create a new, dynamic, and entirely quilted plaid design.
Description: This quilt stemmed from a desire to create a design that contained equal amounts of two colors while allowing each color to take turns holding a dominant position.   The choice of high-contrast black and white fabrics enhances the overall effect of the composition.  The pieced strips in this quilt start at 1/8" wide and increase incrementally across the quilt.
Description: Irregular, broken blocks merge in this improvisational quilt to create a cohesive whole.  Breaks in each block are mended with a contrasting sliver of fabric.  These unexpected shots of color, metallic flashes, and shiny silk bring a sense of luxury to the utilitarian aesthetic of the dominant fabrics.
Description: Proportion and color take center stage on this semi-improvisationally pieced quilt.  Every fabric from the challenge is incorporated into the design of this piece in a range of sizes, from 1/8-inch slivers to large blocks.  The design is pulled together using the dark and light versions of my favorite complementary color scheme- blue and orange.  Linear quilting in a range of angles adds energy to the overall composition.
Description:  While drafting a front elevation of a spiral staircase for a theatre set, I was struck by the elegance of the roughed-in shape.  The simple horizontal lines draw the eye sideways and upward simultaneously.  The concept of "Lateral Ascension" was born.  The piecing of the quilt creates the treads of a staircase, and the quilting stitches emphasize the horizontal lines, while the two-color background creates a strong vertical.  A mix of machine and large stitch hand quilting is reminiscent of the balance between hand-crafted and machine-made. 65" x 74"
Description: The quilting design for "Pivoted Plaid" was the first part of the design process, and it determined how the quilt top would be pieced.  The matchstick quilting in various thread weights creates the design, with a small amount of piecing playing a strong supporting role. The simple piecing allows the stitching to activate the negative space and bring a nearly blank canvas to life.
Description: What happens if quilting stitches are relied upon to complete a patchwork design?  The inspiration for this concept is drawn from murals painted on brick or block walls- the color of the surface is changed in an unexpected way, but the texture remains present.  In "Overlay," a traditional Flock of Geese pattern is interrupted by floating circles, where the quilting texture continues the pattern where the color is lost. 
Description: A simply pieced central design creates the basis for this quilt, allowing the quilting to become the star of the show.  Linear matchstick quilting uses the same thread color as the fabric it passes through.  This process extends the piecing colors across the quilt's surface and develops a plaid pattern.   61" x 61"
Description: A graphic sashing print inspired this contemporary landscape design featuring bold black and white "flowers" springing from rolling hills of green.  The pattern is a reinterpretation of a traditional clamshell pattern that I drafted to scale using AutoCad to see how the fabric print would interact with the overall design.  I selected a limited fabric palette for this piece to allow the wide range of quilting motifs to define individual clamshell sections and create a sense of movement throughout. 41" x 43"
Description: iSpy is a play on both color and value, with the central image of a lowercase "i" being visible to most, but not all, people.  The concept is based on color vision tests that use contrasting circles of approximately the same value arranged to imply a recognizable image.  How an individual's eyes function determines whether or not the image can be seen.  The letter "i" was selected to reflect the unique perspective each viewer brings to the piece. 
Description: Six sections of vibrantly colored violets combine to create a unified central circular image.  Tightly spaced matchstick quilting continues the color of each segment outward to the edges of the image.  The horizontal lines create a calming effect reminiscent of a sunset on the horizon, energized by a section of vertical stitching.